Estimating the Number and Duration of Cognitive Processes Using the within-Task Subtractive Method

摘要

This research was directed towards developing a methodology for partitioning choice-reaction time into component parts, using both the additive-factor and the subtractive method. This methodology involved the use of a modified Sternberg task in which the subjects viewed two horizontally presented letters and were required to classify each of the letters into either the positive or negative set. The classification procedure was performed by depressing two response keys on the same trial. Latency measures were obtained for the elapsed time between stimulus onset and the first response and between the first response and the second response. Input and output times were then derived. In addition, three different types of interruption stimuli (auditory, visual and auditory-visual) were presented at various times prior to and after the onset of the classification stimulus. Input and output latencies were differentially influenced by the different types of interruption stimuli and by the onset time of those interruption stimuli.